Barely
by RosaRubra
Summary: "How am I surviving? Well, barely, to be honest." How, in a place like this, can people do more than hang on? This is the story of a young woman, who suddenly finds herself in the kind of world unlike anything she'd ever imagined. (Summaries. I dread them.) OC story :)
1. Chapter 1

Images flashed before her eyes.

The day it all started. How could she not have noticed? She tried remembering the morning. Oversleeping first. About sure the radio was on. There had to be news reports, right? If only she'd heard them, then none of this… _No,_ she told herself, _I'm not beating myself up over this._

She didn't need if-scenarios.

Next thing she knew, she was driving. There'd been an accident on the road. _Why hadn't that seemed suspicious? _She'd driven right past it.

Going to work. Well, not exactly work, she wasn't paid. Yet.

_Like that's important now. _The place had been overrun.

She was so angry at herself, even now. She hadn't even bothered to check on her colleagues? Her friends? Who knows how many people she could've saved.

_Don't think about it, don't think about it, don't think about it…_

_Focus on now. Right now._

Driving, again. She'd left without a second thought, up until now. She panicked, took her car and just… drove. She didn't know where she'd end up.

Hell, she wasn't too sure she _wanted_ to know.

If she could still count on her perception of time, she'd say it'd been a while since she'd left Atlanta. Taken the interstate for some reason. Though the road was straight, large parts of it were taken up by car wrecks.

Before she realized it, she was further than she thought, passing by everything without a clear purpose. Until…

"No, no no no no, ah, come on!", she started yelling, resisting the urge to slam her head against the dashboard. "This cannot be happening…", she muttered, staring wide-eyed at the gas meter. Empty.

She turned off the motor, grabbing the keys. Taking a deep breath, she glanced next to her, looking for some kind of weapon, _anything_ she could use to defend herself. _No such luck. Unless…_ She twisted herself around, facing the backseat. Crawling halfway behind the front seat, finally, a bit of luck greeted her. Her roommates' baseball bat was stuck underneath the drivers' seat, and after a bit of pulling, she was able to force it loose.

Returning to a normal position, she mentally counted to three, clutching on to the wood for dear life. Then, she carefully opened the door, as if one of those… Things would suddenly be there. Paranoid as she might have seemed, she didn't care.

She had to get out of there. Get somewhere safe, or at least relatively safe.

And so, she started wandering, spinning around at every leaf dropping down from the trees, every branch breaking underneath her own feet, every _sound_ that might indicate any form of a threat.

A snap. Flinging herself around again, she was suddenly faced with something she should have expected. Void eyes, half rotten flesh, and stumbling towards her.

She flinched. By the time she was able to pull the bat up, the monster facing her had grabbed it, and she stood, pushing the bat positioned in between them away with all her might, keeping the walker of her in a desperate fight for her life. A short suppressed scream escaped her lips, before she lost her balance and stumbled backwards.

The walker fell over her, about to take a bite out of her shoulder, but with the speed of some kind of adrenaline rush, she was able to bring the wood in between them again. The wood remained pressed to the walkers throat, but it did not give up. Her eyes started tearing as she started to see no way out, and felt her arms weakening. This thing was way stronger than she was, she was just postponing the inevitable…

Or so she thought, until a shot rang out. The undead fell limp, and without hesitation, she shoved the thing off of her, breathing heavily as she sat up, glancing up at her savior.

A woman, at the end of her fifties if she had to guess, stood, gun in hand. Pointing at her.

Fearfully, her eyes widened. She barely noticed the two others next to her.

"We should shoot her. She might turn into one of those things for all we know!", one of them argued, but the woman's unreadable expression did not change. She would make that decision for herself.

The other man piped in, "Hang on, you don't know th-"

"Well, _you_ don't she's not gonna turn either, Mark!", the first interrupted again.

"Yeah, because you_ always_ make the right calls! There's a reason we don't give you that gun anymore!", the one named Mark argued, pointing at the woman's upper arm. There was a cut in the sleeve of her hoodie, and she thought she saw some kind of white fabric underneath it. "We should at least figure out who she is first."

"Are you wounded?", the woman finally spoke, her expression somewhat more compassionate.

She took that as her cue to defend herself. "No, I'm not,", she said, "o-or… at least I don't think I am…", she added, her voice softer and slightly trembling as she slowly clambered to her feet, not wanting to alert the woman holding a gun.

"M-my name's Sophie, I-I'm a medical student up in Atlanta's Midtown Hospital.", she explained.

"See, she _can_ be helpful, Alex", Mark spoke again. The other man just scoffed as the woman lowered her gun.

"I'm Michelle. These are Mark and Alex.", she introduced herself. "We're holding up in the Air Force Base." She holstered her gun, looking around nervously as Mark took over the conversation.

"You should come with us, we could use someone with medical training.", he told her.

Sophie gave a half-nod, but she still barely moved from her spot. "Well, we should get a move on. Before more of them get here.", Michelle piped in, urging them to move.

She nodded again, picked the bat off the ground where she'd dropped it and followed them. Mark went along with her, when she'd passed Michelle, who was still keeping an eye on the surroundings. A small group of walkers was on approach, but didn't seem to notice them thus far. Alex nudged her, pointing at her gun silently. "Take 'em out, c'mon, we can't risk having those on the loose."

The woman shook her head and pushed him forward. "They haven't noticed us yet. Might as well keep it that way."

As the two of them caught up, Sophie let herself be led to the base. She wished she knew where it was. She'd heard about it before, but for the time she'd been in the United States, she hadn't wandered off far from Atlanta, except for the occasional party her friends took her to.

"Do any of you know what's going on?", she asked an obvious question, but the answer wasn't clear to anyone.

"Well, the dead are walking, in case you haven't noticed.", Alex said, rolling his eyes.

"I think she's asking why.", Michelle piped in, glaring at the other. "To which the answer would be, we don't know."

"We have a radio back in the base. Maybe there's some kind of news report?", Mark suggested, to which Michelle nodded. "We could try."

Sophie nodded. At least she wasn't the only one who didn't know.

She felt a lot safer with more people around, and even though she knew she shouldn't, she found herself letting guard down a bit. As soon as she noticed, she tried to snap out of her thoughts, and tried to keep her focus. Fortunately, nothing bad happened to them before they reached the base. She was lucky that time.

She looked up at the building they arrived at. It looked rather large, which could be a bit tricky to defend properly. "Is there anyone else here?", she questioned, eying the other few buildings. There could be stray walkers in any of them for all they knew.

Mark shook his head. "No – or not that we know of anyway.", he replied, not seeming to notice that the answer didn't make her feel at ease at all.

They led her to an office type building, something that seemed somewhat like a reception area. Following along as they moved towards a couch and a couple of one seaters, she took place in one of them when they did too.

"So anyway, Sophie…", Michelle was first to speak. Sophie looked up as she heard her hesitantly say her name, as if she wasn't sure she got it right. "You said you're a medical student?", she asked. Sophie nodded in reply. "First year, though."

Michelle nodded, stood up and took of her hoodie. Pointing at her upper arm, at some sloppily wrapped bandages, she faced her again. "Think you could help me out?", she asked.

Sophie stood up as well. "What happened?", she questioned, surprised at the sudden ask of her help. Usually her teachers, the higher-ups in the hospital were around to help her, no matter what the case. Yet she tried to maintain her composure.

"Well, _someone _got nervous and by chance had a gun with them.", she remarked coldly, her gaze not shifting from Sophie's eyes. In the couch, Alex shifted uneasily.

"So, shot wound then?" Sophie got a nod in return. She barely noticed, looking over the bandages, slowly unwrapping them. She winced at the sight of the wound that had yet to be cleaned. By the looks of it, the bullet could still lodged in there. _Oh that's just wonderful…_

She soon caught herself on the mistake of starting without any kind of equipment at hand. "Ehh… I'm going to need some kind of first aid kit…", she looked around at the three of them. "I don't suppose-?"

"We do have one, actually. We tried wrapping up the wound, to stop the bleeding. We got the bandages from one…", Mark spoke as he got up, walking over to the other side of the room. For a second, he disappeared behind a wall next to a desk.

"I think we put it – Got it!", he told them from the far side of the room, reappearing with a red first aid pack in his hand.

With a small smile, she took it as he offered it to her. "Thanks, this should help." She turned to Michelle as she set the box down on the small table standing in between the seats. "You can sit back down for a second, I need to see what I got to work with here, okay?" The woman nodded, and they both sat back down.

It was silent in the room, except for the noise Sophie was making, looking through the equipment that was available to her. She felt watched though, eyes boring into her back, but she tried to ignore it. She _was _a stranger here after all.

Shifting through the materials, she tried remembering everything she knew about gunshot wounds. Those didn't regularly visit the hospital, and if they did, it was down in the pit, and not the kind of thing they'd let her handle on her own…

When she'd put some things aside, she looked up. "I think I got everything I need now.", she announced, looking over to Michelle, who shuffled closer. "Well, go ahead."

She first reexamined the wound, looking over it again. She turned her arm over, getting a wince from Michelle, even though she was being as careful as she could. "Sorry…", she mumbled. Michelle shook her head, brushing of the pain the wound really caused.

Sophie's first assumptions had been correct, she still needed to extract the bullet, since there was no exit wound. Or at least, she hoped she remembered that part correctly. At this point, she was reaching for a pair of tweezers. But, again, she felt watched. She let out a small sigh and sat up straight again.

"Well, umm... No offense, but - eh, Michelle, could we go sit over there?", she asked, pointing over to the desk on the other side of the room. "I don't work very well being watched.", she added, smiling sheepishly at the others. As Michelle agreed and got up, Mark nodded understandingly while Alex just rolled his eyes. "Right… Sorry about that."

She shook her head dismissively.

"In the meantime, we can try and get a signal on that radio.", Mark suggested, and started looking for it.

Sophie asked Michelle to sit on the desk while she handled the wound, being careful all the way. In the end, it had to be pretty much like any other wound, right? From the far side of the room, she could hear parts of Alex and Mark talking, over the static noises of the radio.

"… Shouldn't have brought her…", was the only thing she could clearly hear before Mark shut him up. Subconsciously, she looked away sadly away from Michelle, her shoulders slumping down a bit, just enough for her to notice.

"Don't mind him. He'll warm up to you, you'll see.", Michelle told her, giving her a small, yet encouraging smile. She returned it and nodded slightly. Returning to the wound, she finally grabbed the pliers. "Okay, I'll just warn you now, okay?", she started slightly nervously, remembering something she knew. "Bullet wounds usually bleed pretty badly. Now, I think the bullet it stuck in there somewhere…", she spoke carefully, but Michelle seemed to be able to handle it. "I think it might cause a bleeding when I pull it out." Michelle, even though she was kind of unsure about Sophie's skill, nodded, and let her work.

Michelle winced as she managed to pull it out, and Sophie apologized again, but was busy trying to control the bleeding. It wasn't as bad as she'd thought it would've been. The static noise started diminishing slowly, as she started cleaning the wound.

"I think we got a signal.", Alex declared from across the room. The noise cleared out entirely as Sophie wrapped the wound up in new, clean bandages which almost immediately got tainted red.

A voice took over. "WABE urges you to… contact with… exposed…", it crackled through, still pretty unclear. Sophie stuck the end underneath the other bandages and reinforced it by sticking a band aid on it. "That should do it.", she told Michelle, as the voice kept talking. Both of them walked over to the sound, as Mark fiddled with the buttons some more, getting a clearer sound.

"… Get off the air now…", the reporter still sounded somewhat calm, but more unsettling noises, glass breaking, someone screaming, started coming through as well.

Then, the radio's signal started to go haywire entirely. "Mark, what are you doing?", Michelle asked, giving him a soft push, urging him to stop. "It's not me, the signal's just…", he trailed off as the voice managed to break through for a moment again.

"WABE wishes you and your loved one-"

Immediately, it broke off again, a high pitched tone coming through. Only to have a much more panicked voice speak his last, unsettling words a moment later.

"…God bless you all, God-"

The voice broke off, and the tone stopped when the radio broke down entirely. For a moment, they all stayed quiet. Sophie let out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding.

"_That_ does _not_ sound good…"

* * *

**Author's note: **_Hi there! I hope you liked reading the first chapter of my story...  
I don't know how all of you feel about OC's though, but I've been wanting to do this for a while, so I thought I'd post it anyway :)__  
Please do leave me a review! Tell me anything, what you liked, what you disliked, any mistakes you might have seen, anything! It always helps :)_

_Also, quick disclaimer. I don't own anything from the The Walking Dead franchise. Any characters from the game belong to Telltale Games. I guess my own characters are mine, right? (wow, I actually own something c: )  
_

_Anyway, I'll try to upload regularly, so see you next time! :)  
_


	2. Chapter 2

"Sophie, would you give it up already? Power's out, you know…", Mark sighed, watching the girl rummage through the box offices with crossed arms.

She picked up another phone, hopefully listening for the low beep that indicated it worked. Again, no luck. Over the small, plastic walls that closed off each one, she looked back at him. "You never know right?"

Of course she knew. She just didn't want to face the fact that it was hopeless, and just how desperate she really was.

"Don't you young people carry cellphone's around everywhere nowadays?", Michelle asked without looking up, drumming her fingers on a desk she'd taken place at.

Sophie proceeded to the next office, pulling open the shelves and picking up the phone again. "Yeah, I do. Except the universe decided it'd be funny to have the apocalypse on the _exact_ day I forget," Sophie responded, her tone laced with annoyance and frustration.

While moving to the next office, Mark grabbed her by the wrist. "It's not going to work," he said solemnly. She stared back at him, her expression turning sad. She knew he was right.

"Kinda makes you miss the payphone times, don't it?", Michelle broke the silence, getting up and heading towards the door, seeing the topic as over.

The thought only lingered in Sophie's head for a split-second. "That's it!", she shouted, hope raising in her again. "I pretty sure I passed one by getting out of Atlanta, I could use that one, right?"

"You're… _pretty_ sure?", Mark remarked, believing it to be false hope. But, the feisty girl wasn't ready to give up just yet. "It wasn't even that far! I'm sure I'd make it on foot…"

Michelle had stopped dead in her tracks. "Now you listen to me. There is no way in _hell_, I'm letting you walk out of here just like that.", she started, walking towards her. "Trust me, you'd be signing your own death warranty," the taller woman promised, stopping right in front of Sophie, staring her down, in a serious, yet worried, way.

But, Sophie's stubbornness knew no bounds. She dared stare back at the woman, yet her voice was faltering. "I need to make sure the people I care about are alright."

Silence lingered in the room. Neither of the women said anything else. Michelle was fully aware of the feeling tugging at her, urging her to give in to the patch of hope and cling on to it. Her skeptical side told her it was a bad idea though. But… She wanted to know too…

"You're not going anywhere like this, either way," Mark interrupted her thoughts. Sophie turned her attention to him now, raising an eyebrow, but Michelle seemed indifferent. "You… Should learn how to shoot a gun first," he argued. "You were helpless when we found you."

Sophie stared at a black spot on one of the floor's tiles, thinking of the baseball bat lying on the floor in the lobby room now. She'd used it as a weapon, but if the three of them hadn't showed up, she would've been done for.

Looking up again, she nodded, admitting her defeat. For now. "I guess you're right… But, after tha-"

"After that," Michelle interrupted her, "we'll see."

Reluctantly, Sophie gave a nod.

"Let's go see if Alex had any luck at finding more weapons," Mark suggested, pulling Sophie along towards the door. "You can start training right away. I'm sure Michelle can teach you a thing or two."

Sophie let herself be dragged along, but looked back at Michelle who didn't move from her spot. "You coming?", she asked, tilting her head.

Michelle looked over her shoulder and shook her head. "You guys go ahead, I'll be there in a minute."

A moment later, she heard the sound of a door falling back into the lock. Without a word, she moved towards a desk. She moved some paper off of a white porcelain ashtray. Just as she'd left it, she picked up the five quarters that were in there. _Just in case._

(-)

Michelle was a horrible teacher. There was absolutely no way around it.

Yet Sophie was dertermined not to give up. Even if the noise did attract any walkers, there was no way they'd get into the base undetected. At first Sophie had thought it was a big waste of ammo, but eventually Mark had persuaded her by telling her that Alex had found a big enough stash in the base to last them forever. Or at least quite some time.

So now, after Michelle had rejoined them, she was there, being trained to shoot a firearm. She watched Michelle first, waiting with the two guys. A cold shiver ran down her back, and she wished she wore warmer clothes. She placed her cold hands in her neck, underneath her red curled hair.

A shot rang out, quickly followed by a metallic ping coming from a tin can.

"And that's how you do it.", Michelle stated, pushing aside a stray strand of her short, dirty blonde hair, pleased at her own aim. Turning around, she handed Sophie the grey handgun. "Now you try it."

The girl's amber eyes widened slightly, but took the gun nonetheless. "How? Don't I get any more instruction?", she asked in disbelief.

"Just… Eh, aim and shoot?", Michelle said, not knowing how to instruct her any better.

Sophie glanced over to Mark and Alex, but they just shrugged, looking away. She sighed, and held the gun in both hands, lifting it up. A couple more tin cans were lined up, how hard could it be to hit at least one…? _Right?_

Aiming, yet not how it should be done, she tried making the shot. And missed by a mile.

"Ehh. Whoops?", Sophie muttered, smiling sheepishly, looking over to Michelle who gave her a soft smile. "Well, give it another go?", she suggested, her patience everlasting.

Sophie nodded, and shot again.

And again.

And a couple more times, until she had to reload. She still hadn't hit a single target. She sighed and trudged over to Michelle who'd set herself down on a half-wall next to a box of ammo. "Yeah. I can't make that shot," she admitted, sighing to herself.

"Well, maybe she's more of a melee type of person?", Alex suggested.

"I don't think so," Mark interfered, "she doesn't look that strong." He gestured to her lean figure.

"No offence," he added quickly. Sophie held up a hand, shaking her head softly. "None taken."

Sophie and Michelle shared a short look, but it said just enough. They realized they weren't the best teacher-pupil combination. Michelle looked away. "You guys try teaching her. My methods certainly don't seem to work."

"Alex, you used to hunt right? Didn't you say you taught your nephew once?", Mark asked. Alex reluctantly gave a nod, knowing exactly why he asked.

"Well, you teach her. In the meantime, Michelle, can I talk to you?" Michelle nodded, got up and followed Mark back inside. Sophie didn't know what they wanted to discuss, but watching them as they walked off, she felt as if it was going to be about her, and this whole situation.

Alex sighed, and got up. "Well, how hard could it be?", he questioned, more to himself than to her. She snapped out of her thoughts, and handed him the gun back when he asked for it.

"It's really not that hard… Just aim with this thingy here," he said, pointing to the notch on the pistol. "Line it up to your target, then shoot."

She nodded. That was already more of an explanation. She took the gun again, and tried aiming. She shot, but missed again. Though, it was less far off already.

The thing was, the silence between them was killing her. It felt cold, and she actually wanted to get along with the people who saved her. Even though he had argued to shoot her. "So… Eh, you taught your nephew? How old is he?", she attempted to start a conversation.

Alex nodded, and shrugged. "Let's say 'bout thirteen now? Not too sure, honestly. He was eight when I taught him though," he replied. He pointed at the gun. "You hold the gun too low for your eyesight. Line it up."

"I have a little niece back home. Haven't seen her in a year," Sophie said, reminded of the little girl. She wasn't all that good with kids, especially when they started crying or were just sad, but Suzie was always up to be taught something. Simple things Sophie was capable off, though. She remember teaching her how to blow bubbles, and she'd marveled at the colors.

Alex's memories, though more gruesome, reminded him of the same innocence. His sister's husband had ran out on her, and he'd taught the little boy things like hunting. The sparkle in the kid's eye, the small smiles he gave him, the happiness in his voice as he told his mother… He couldn't imagine him going through a world like this.

A shot rang out. A metallic ping followed.

For an instant, Alex and Sophie shared a look. He gave a meek smile. "Good shot."

"Thanks," she said. A moment of silence followed, and she dragged herself over to were Alex had sat himself down and took place next to him. "I miss home."

"Me too… A-and… I'm sorry for, well-eh, wanting to shoot you when we met," he said, guilt lacing his tone.

Sophie shrugged. "It's alright, I guess. You're kind of right to distrust strangers." She looked at him from the side. "But just don't judge too quickly next time."

"What, you gonna lecture me little lady? I thought I was supposed to teach you something here," he replied, smiling as he punched her in the arm playfully. "Now get up," he ordered.

She managed to give a weak laugh, before scrambling to her feet again. "It's not because you can make a shot once, that you're suddenly a pro. Keep practicing," he added, and she did as she was told, holding the gun up again.

"One more thing," Sophie started, shooting the gun and hitting another can. "There's a plan I need to talk to you about."

(-)

"Well, what did'ya wanna talk about?", Michelle asked, sitting down in a single seat, supporting herself on her elbows.

"Everything, pretty much," Mark started, crossing his arms. "First of all, though. The whole payphone idea, I think it's terrible."

Michelle shifted a bit, leaning back and scoffed. "It's not _that_ crazy…"

"Yes, it is. She's not even sure whether she actually saw the thing, let alone how far away it was," Mark said, starting to pace back and forth in the room. "Look, I get you're worried, and understandably so…"

Mark had seen the picture on Michelle's desk before. She had a family, three kids, if he could recall correctly. He looked at the woman seated in the couch, the one that was usually energetic enough to make her co-workers feel better, and he could barely recognize her.

"… But you can't let it take a hold of you. They might just be exaggerating this whole thing, it might get sorted out in a few days," he argued carefully.

"And what if it doesn't, Mark?", she retorted, looking up at the younger man now, frowning. "What if it's the only chance we get?", she asked him, her glassy eyes cold as her gaze was fixed on him.

"It's still too risky…", he muttered as he took a seat, holding his head in his hands. "What about the girl?", he asked, not looking up. "She stays with us, we keep an eye on her so she doesn't do anything stupid. No discussion," Michelle said in return.

"If it does last longer, we're going to need supplies, too," she added, changing the subject. He nodded, and looked up. "Where are we going to get those?", he asked.

"How about the commissary food?", Alex asked as the two of them entered the building at that moment.

Michelle looked up. "Those aren't ours to use. You know that," she retorted.

"They're not going to do any good to anyone else now. Besides, you got any better ideas?" Alex responded. To Mark and Sophie, it didn't seem like a bad idea.

"We don't really have anything else. Unless there's like a cafeteria here somewhere?" Sophie offered. Even though the commissary supplies sounded pretty good, Michelle had a point too.

"There's a kitchen, where the staff used to prepare lunch, there's probably some food there, too," Mark answered, and looked to Michelle. "We could use those first, if it makes you feel better."

Michelle shrugged. "It's better, at least." She clutched her stomach when it rumbled, blushing slightly. "Good thing too. I'm hungry as hell."

Sophie looked at Mark for a second, and smiled. "If you'll show me the way, I'd be happy to help you get the supplies we need," she offered. He nodded, gave a smile and got up.

"Can we have that gun, Alex? Might need it," he asked. Alex gave him the handgun from his seat in the couch. "Be careful, you two," Michelle said, sending them off.

They walked over the open square in between the buildings of the air force base. She looked over to the heavy metal gate by the entrance, and hoped it would hold off the dead on the loose. Briefly, she wondered why the base was empty, and decided to ask.

Mark looked at her while answering. "Well, we haven't checked all the buildings yet… There might be some where we can't see them. Aside from that… It's Saturday, it usually wasn't that crowded here during the weekends anyway." It wasn't exactly comforting. Mark nudged her when he noticed her uneasiness. "Hey, we'll be fine. Don't worry about it," he said, smiling at her comfortingly. She nodded, and attempted a brave smile. "Well, I hope you're right, Mark."

"So, you know how to shoot a gun now, huh?" he asked as they neared the building. She gave a nod, and smiled subconsciously. Was that even something to be proud of? She contemplated it as Mark handed her the gun. They were in front of the door now, which unlike the other, wasn't made of glass. "Then I trust you can cover me?", he asked, smiling at her. "Not that I expect anything though," he added before she gave a nod. "Of course. I'm a helluva good shot," she remarked half-sarcastically with a smug smile.

Mark pushed the door open, carefully as she held the gun up, ready for anything. At first sight, it seemed deserted, so they entered. She was just about to wander over to a counter, when he pulled her back. "Stay close, would ya?" She found it a bit overprotective, but nodded nonetheless.

They got behind the counter, and entered the kitchen. "Well… Seems clear in he-… Oh no…", Sophie muttered, walking around room. Until she found two bodies, fallen over one another. She pulled the gun, that she'd put in her pocket out again and looked back at Mark. "It might not be as safe as we thought, after all…"

He came over and stood next to her, briefly examining sight, before looking away. "They're… Not a threat to us now…", he said, voice hushed.

She gave a nod as he walked off, towards the cupboards. She looked down at the corpses for a moment. _Must've been his colleagues, judging by the look in his eyes…_, she thought, looking back at Mark.

She kept staring at the ground, noticing a trail of bloodied footsteps next to the scene... Leading away. Behind her, Mark whistled, impressed. "There's lots of food here."

Sophie heard him rummage through it, but paid no mind. She started following the footsteps, holding the handgun close. It led up to a large, metal door, the footsteps looking more and more as if the person dragged their feet, barely standing up. Smeared hand prints were on the door, as she slowly reached for the handle. A one way door…

She entered the cold room, a big, freezer type place. Her fearful eyes searched the room, her hands trembling. Slowly, she walked forward, and rounded a corner… Until something grabbed her ankle. She yelped at the sudden contact, jumping back best she could. The walker's grip wasn't any good, and she easily pulled loose, backing up in the room. Horror was imminent on her face, watching the walker struggle to pull his half frozen body forward, towards her.

For a moment, she couldn't do anything. She wanted to scream, but her voice was gone. She wanted to run, to shoot it, or something, but her body wouldn't do anything. She was frozen in place, until it tried lunging forward. Suddenly, she jolted back to life, even though the thing failed miserably, unable to do more than pull itself forward a few inches.

She ran back to the solid metal door. A one way door. There wasn't a handle on the inside, she realized with panic. _Oh no… Oh no, oh no, oh no…_ She banged on the door, but barely any sound went through at all. "Mark! Open the door!", she yelled helplessly, in hope that he would hear her.

She spun around again. The walker was slowly, but steadily closing in, faster than before. The cold of the metal in her hand finally made her realize, she had to shoot it. Only now did the weight of the gun seem so much more important… Light, for something that could kill. She lifted it up. Shooting tin cans was one thing…

A shot rang out. The sound died, and the body lay still.

Letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding, she sighed and slid down the door, pulling her knees up as realization struck. She'd just… Killed a person.

A small yelp escaped her as the door behind her opened and she fell backwards onto the tiled floor. Mark immediately crouched down beside her, looking worried. "Shit, Sophie, are you alright?", he asked pulling her up into a sitting position.

"I-I'm fine, Mark," she stuttered. She wanted to get up, she didn't want to be some pushover… But her heart raced in her chest as she clung onto Mark. "Holy crap, that was scary…" she muttered softly. At first, he wasn't sure what to do. This young woman had seemed pretty strong… And now she was on the verge of tears. Softly, he wrapped his arms around her. "Hey, it's okay. It's over now…" He managed to glance inside the room, spotting the dead walker. A clean bullet wound, right through the head. He bit the inside of his lip. She really was a good shot after all.

Sophie lifted her head up again, opening her mouth to say something, but closing it again, staring at him. She took another deep breath. "I'm fine," she said again, her voice more stable now, as she started clambering to her feet with Mark's help. She was still a bit shaky as he closed the freezer's door after grabbing two empty cardboard boxes from inside. "So, not going in there anymore, right?", he asked, giving her a soft smile. She barely managed to return the gesture, her meek smile being more of a grimace.

"I got the supplies we need. We can go back now," he said, bringing her over to the counter where he'd been first. Food was stacked there, and she helped as he started putting them in the boxes. He handed her the lightest one, but when she took it, he didn't let go immediately. "You sure you're okay? Not hurt or anything?", he questioned, looking at her with serious, yet worried eyes. She nodded. "No, no, I'm fine. Just… A bit shaken up, I guess," she replied, taking the box off his hands. "Let's just get back, okay?"

Mark nodded, and they headed back outside, into the cold.

* * *

**Author's note: **_Okay. I really need to get more timely updates :/  
Sorry about that, I've been pretty busy lately :d__  
_

_Aside from that, thanks for reading, I hope you enjoyed and please leave a review! Tell me anything c:  
Thanks to my reviewers and the people who added my story to their alerts c:  
_

**Quick disclaimer: **_I do not own anything from The Walking Dead Game, it belongs to TellTale Games. I guess my own character's are mine :)_


	3. Chapter 3

"Oh, good, you're back," Michelle noted from her place on the couch. Sophie placed her box on the table in front of her, and took a seat. "Are you… Reading a magazine?", she asked, noting the paper in her hands.

"This _is _the lobby… So yeah. I didn't have anything else to do, you know," she said, putting it down on the table next to the box as she dragged it closer, rummaging through the contents. Sophie found it strange, just thinking about it. While Michelle was peacefully reading the fourteenth of September issue of some local magazine, she shot and killed a person she didn't even know in the next building.

"Sophie?", Michelle repeated herself, holding a box of cookies out to her. "Want one?", she asked. Sophie looked to her side, and took the box. She didn't feel like eating at all, but she was pretty hungry. She took a few, and passed the box on. "Just take something else if you're still hungry. We've got plenty of food now to last us a while. As long as we're not too greedy," Michelle warned, staring out the window as she took another bite.

"It's getting dark out," Alex remarked. "I told you we'd be here until nightfall."

Michelle nodded. "I know. Good thing you found those blankets then, huh?"

He smirked. "Someone has to think about these things, right?", he said, walking off for a moment, before returning with a box filled with blankets.

Sophie just stared straight in front of her, empty eyes, leaning back in the couch. She felt a hand on her shoulder, and looked up. "Are you cold?", Mark asked, the same worried tone of before.

She shook her head, chuckling softly. "Stop worrying about me," she said, and smiled at him. "Really, I'm fine." She watched as Alex started unpacking blankets. They looked soft, and warm. Comforting. "Well… Maybe I _am_ a bit cold…", she stated in the end. Alex looked up, smiled, and handed her one, before sitting back down in the couch. She snuggled into it, and tried to get more comfortable. It actually made her feel a bit better.

"At least one of us should be awake at all times," Michelle said, looking around to the others. "I'll stay up first watch. You guys get some rest." She got up, and asked the gun from Sophie, which she handed to her. Michelle continued to turn one of the single seats to face the window, and sat down.

Mark, who was still standing up, took Michelle's spot next to Sophie. "You know, usually I hate sleeping on anything other than a bed, but I guess it'll have to do for now," Sophie said, smiling softly. "Goodnight, you guys," she added. It had been a long day. She was tired as hell, and felt herself already drifting off.

(-)

First thing she heard, was Alex urging her to wake up. A hand was placed on her shoulder, shaking her back and forward. She couldn't quite make out what he said at first when it got through to her that he was talking to her. She half-opened her eyes, and looked up at him groggily. "Wh-what is it? My turn on watch?", she asked, her voice hoarse from sleeping.

It was still dark out, that was the first thing she noticed when she opened her eyes. The second, the coins shining in Alex' hand.

"… want to do this… wake up now." The voice started to get through to her, and she sat up, rubbing her eyes. "Sorry, come again?"

She got an elongated sigh in return. "Listen, if you want to do this, I need you to wake up. As in right now, Sophie."

She tilted her head, looking at him in confusion. "Do what, exactly?", she asked, narrowing her eyes.

"Have you not been listening to anything I said?", he asked in return, clearly annoyed by both her inability to wake up decently and how she wouldn't pick up the pace. He was in a hurry. It had to be now.

"I was barely awake, so no, I-!", she retorted, raising her voice in an equally irritated manner, until Alex clasped his hand over her mouth. "Keep it down, would you?", he asked in all seriousness, and pulled his hand back.

"Your whole payphone idea?", he started, then gestured to Mark and Michelle. "They're not going to let you go through with it."

Sophie's half-awake mind took a moment to process that, looking over to the both of them, still asleep. Then looked back at Alex, her eyes widened in suspicion and disbelief. "You don't know that. They said-"

"While you went to the cafeteria yesterday, she told me," he interrupted, waving his hand at Michelle. "Says it's too risky. Says she discussed it with Mark," he murmured, facing the ground.

He looked up, his eyes locking on to hers. "If you want to go through with this, it's going to have to be now. We'll be back before they know we're gone."

Sophie just sat there, mesmerized. She looked from Mark next to her, his glasses on the table in between the seats, to Michelle sleeping in an uncomfortable looking position, back to the coins in Alex' hand. She faced the ground for a while.

She held her head in her hands. Would they really not let her go? Or was Alex just being impatient? Why couldn't people learn they shouldn't put her up against these though choices this early?

She looked up.

(-)

Summer was turning to winter, she was sure of that much. Crossing her arms, she tried to keep warm as fallen leaves crisped underneath her feet. She followed closely behind Alex, still wondering whether it was really a good idea to leave the others. Why did she feel like she was betraying them somehow?

"You're not a morning person, are you?", Alex teased, looking over his shoulder to her.

"I wouldn't say that, no," she replied matter-of-factually, but smiled slightly nonetheless. "Usually coffee helps."

"Usually," Alex said, sighing as he faced forward again.

"You can say that again," she muttered under her breath, nodding to herself.

Deciding she couldn't think about too much right now, it was way too early, she sped up a bit, until she was walking next to him. "You know, they found that out at the hospital too, after a while," she started rambling a story, trying to make conversation, even if it was just to distract her.

"They noticed how I was always really eager to get the late night shifts. Didn't like that too much though. Said that as a doctor, you should be able to focus at any time of the day, because you never know when people would need your help…" Her voice trailed off. She recalled she was annoyed by being told that. Now she knew it was all too true.

Alex looked to his side. She was facing the ground, her nails pressed into her own arms. He really didn't know how to respond. "H… How far did you say this thing was?" So instead, he decided to change subject.

She shrugged. "Honestly, I'm not too sure. It wasn't that far, I think…", she answered truthfully, rummaging her memory to try and recall where exactly it was.

"I didn't even know those things were still around," Alex replied. "Call it luck, that you saw one."

Did she hear a bit of doubt in his voice? She looked up, but saw nothing in his eyes. She slowly came to realize that he was holding on to hope, just as she was.

"We're going to pass my car pretty soon, I think," she mentioned, as they reached the road.

"How come you didn't keep driving, anyway?", Alex asked. She seemed pretty resourceful, she couldn't possibly…

"Ran out of gas."

Guess not. He eyed her derogatively, and she noticed. "Hey, not my fault, Madison was supposed to gas it up."

"Who's Madison?", Alex asked, as it was the first thing that popped into his mind.

"My roommate. Also one of the people I'd like to call," she responded.

"If he's your roommate, why wasn't he there with you?", he asked in return.

"She," she corrected curtly. "And she was, or is, I don't know, in Savannah, for some party she was invited to or something."

He opened his mouth, to maybe ask something else, but she cut him off. "You going to call your sister?"

He closed his mouth, and looked ahead. "There's a car over there. Yours?", he asked, pointing over to the small, dark green car in the middle of the clearing.

She nodded. "Yup, that's mine," she replied, walking over to it. "I don't think I left anything useful in there, though."

She took the keys out, which she still had with her, and opened the car doors. She opened the back door, checking whether she'd left anything on the backseat. Alex opened the trunk, and ruffled through the contents. "Were you supposed to recycle the empties or something?"

After finding a couple of coins in between the seats and grabbing her purse she'd clumsily forgotten, she clambered back out of the car. "I think so," she replied, hearing the clanging of empty bottles. "Anything useful?", she asked, joining him at the back of the car. He nodded, and grabbed a medical kit. "Thought it would've been here," he said, handing it to her. "Standard equipment, you know."

She nodded. "Nothing in the car anymore either. Except a couple of coins, and some old, probably warm water," she said, closing the trunk.

Her eyes followed him as he grabbed the bottle as well. "Better safe than sorry, you know."

She nodded, and looked to the car. "We'd better just leave it here. I don't want to push this thing all the way to the base. Besides, the chances that we'll need it are pretty slim, right?" Alex nodded in return. "Let's keep going then. Can't be too far now."

(-)

Eventually, it turned out to really be there. It wasn't just her fantasy playing her parts after all.

As soon as she spotted it, she pointed at it excitedly. "Alex, look? I told you it was there!", she yelled, before he hushed her. A smile was on his face though, he was just as happy as her to have found it. But still, no reason to attract the dead, they'd been on a lucky streak for that long. She nodded in understanding, while they walked over. The only resistance they'd stumbled across were a few stray walkers, but they managed to avoid a confrontation with them.

"So, who first?", Alex asked. The phone seemed pretty much intact, and most importantly, it worked.

She took a coin from out of her pocket, and flipped it. Her other hand covered the coin as she looked up. "Heads or tails?"

"Tails. Always tails," Alex replied, and they both watched as she took away her hand.

"Not _always_, I guess," Sophie remarked with a smirk as Alex slapped his head.

"Fine, you go first. I'll just watch our surroundings or something," he said, taking out the gun they'd brought for the first time.

"I'm going to need more coins than this though…" she muttered, counting the few she had in her hand.

"Really? That seems like more than enough to me. Where the hell are you phoning to?", he asked, frowning slightly.

"My family… That's in Belgium…"

"Belgium? As in Europe, Belgium?", he questioned, his eyes widening. She nodded, smiling sheepishly. He shook his head slightly, pinching the bridge of his nose as he contemplated that. "Look, Sophie, I'm sorry, but not even if we put all these coins in will you be able to make even _one_ call there…", he replied. It might've been a bit exaggerated… But it was saying that, or only being able to make one call in total.

She looked at her feet for a while. So, she had no idea whether this… Infection had gone to her homeland as well, and she couldn't know if her family was alright. But somewhere, she thought it might be for the better. There was nothing she could do from across the ocean, after all.

She bit her lip, for the first time regretting studying abroad. She sighed, but nodded. "You're right…", she muttered. _Only one person left then…_ "But still, I'm first," she said, putting the coin in the machine.

The only person she really knew well enough here in the USA, her roommate and her best friend. Madison had to be alright… She dialed her number, luckily one of the only phone numbers she had memorized.

The phone clicked, and the horn started beeping. A slow, low tone, repeating itself. She drummed her fingers against her arm, waiting impatiently. "Come on, Madison, pick up your damn phone…"

The tone became provoking. "Pick up, pick up, pick up, pick up…", Sophie repeated over and over, wishing her friend could hear her on the other end.

"Hi, you've reached Madison's pho-"

"No! God damn it!", Sophie swore, almost throwing the horn out of her hand as the answering machine's voice spoke.

She hung up, put another coin in and tried again. The same voice answered in the exact same way, so she slammed the horn back down. With hopeful eyes, she looked at the coin in her hand. "Don't fail me now...", she muttered to herself, and put the money in.

"Hi, you've reached Madison's phone," the pre-recorded message started again. She felt her chest grow tighter with hopelessness, worry and fear.

"Please leave a message, and I'll call you back." The voice died, and a high-pitched beep followed. Sophie rested her head against the machine, fighting the tears that welled up in her eyes by screwing them shut.

"Madison… It's me, Sophie. I-I want you to know I'm alright. I'm staying near Macon, in that air force base. Don't worry about me," she spoke into the horn, believing, _hoping_ she might still be alive.

"I know you're probably still in Savannah, right? Well, I don't know what it's like there right now, or if it even got struck, but you've probably heard the news, right? Just… Stay there. I'll make it there somehow. I'll find you, just... Just stay in Savannah, alright?", she begged, biting her lip as she knew she wasn't going to get an answer. "I-I have to go now. I'll see you when I get there, okay?"

"… Bye.", she muttered, ending her message and hanging up the phone.

She heard footsteps coming her way, but she didn't bother to look up. She knew it was Alex either way. She took a deep breath, rising from her slumped position. Her eyes were slightly bloodshot as she ran a hand over her cheek.

"Your turn…", was all she could bring out. She took the gun out of his hand without another word, not even noticing his worried look.

Her legs felt as if they were going to give way at any moment, but she managed to stay upright. She just needed to keep an eye out right now, the gun in her hands feeling heavy.

She didn't know anything. She _still_ didn't know anything. This whole thing had been for nothing…

Her mind disagreed with itself, at some point. If Madison _was _still alive, now she'd know to wait for her. She just had to get to Savannah. That was all there was to it. Though, she wasn't sure which side of her mind was the smart one.

She heard Alex talking behind her, but it sounded so distant to her. She couldn't make out what he was saying, whether it was an answering machine or not. She didn't know whether she wanted to know, either.

Alex walked over to her after a while. "You know you could try to call her again right?", he asked cautiously. She nodded.

"Let's just go," she said. She'd tried three times. Third time wasn't the charm. There was no point in trying again.

(-)

They'd been walking for a while, and Alex really started to get worried. Sophie wasn't speaking. She seems distraught, lost in thought completely.

He sighed. "Look, Sophie, I don't know if you hear, and I know you probably shouldn't hear this right now, but… My sister, my nephew… They're okay. They're alive and well," he started carefully.

She didn't so much as look up. That feeling gnawing at her… Was it jealousy? She mentally kicked herself for feeling that way, and forced herself to look up. "That's great," she answered, unintentionally sounding almost sarcastic.

But, Alex, thoughtful as he is, barely noticed. "I just need to get to them, then I can protect them...", he said. He then stopped, and gave her a strangely serious look. "I know this is going to sound bad, but… I'm going to need your car. I need to get to them."

She stopped as well, sighing and crossing her arms. "If it were up to me, sure, take the hunk of metal. But it's out of gas, remember?", she reminded him, shaking her head softly. Like she would care about the car right now.

"Well, then, I guess this is our lucky day," he responded, pointing to something behind her. In hindsight, not the best choice of words. She decided not to comment, aside from frowning, and turned around.

It was an abandoned gas station. It looked old, but she knew it still functioned. She'd tanked there before. In any way, the half boarded up windows, the hasty fortification didn't exactly give the place an atmosphere of safety.

She wanted to disagree, but before she could bring out anything, Alex was already heading towards the pumps. "Hey, hold up, would you?"

She skipped over the guardrails and followed after him. He'd stopped by the first pump when she caught up. "So genius, how do you even plan on carrying it? Ain't exactly like to can just hold it, you know," she grumbled, annoyed by his rashness.

"Well, this thing isn't working either way. Probably cut off. We could probably get it on again inside that building," he said, looking up to the station behind her. "And I want to bet there's going to be some gas cans there too."

It was logical thinking, she had to admit, but she would've appreciated it if he waited for her to reply before heading to the building. She held her breath as he opened the door without a second thought.

"You should really be more careful," she hissed. He waved away her argument and headed inside.

The room was dark. Glum, almost. It looked abandoned, for as far as they could tell, and didn't look like it was very well stocked. She looked to the poorly barred up windows. "Someone was probably in here. Maybe they went out to scavenge?", she wondered aloud.

"Don't think so. Why would they leave work unfinished like that? Besides, there was an on the road shop here, wasn't there?" She nodded. He had a point.

She turned around. There were two more doors in the room. "Check the other rooms?", she asked, walking over to the first door.

"Sure," he replied, passing her by quickly, like a child wanting to be first in her mind. She paid no mind to it though. In truth, he didn't think he could rely on her, not right now.

But, getting closer to the door, she could swear she heard a faint noise. Alex didn't seem to notice, but it was something she couldn't quite lay her finger on. It was almost like… Angry growls.

Realization struck her, just as Alex reached for the doorknob. Eyes widening, she latched out.

"Alex, _don't_!"

* * *

**Author's note: **_Hey guys, how's it going?_

_I don't have a lot to say, but I'm just going to ask for some feedback again, so take some time and review please, any little detail you liked or disliked, it really helps me get better at writing :)  
_

_OH! I did want to ask something after all! The length of my chapters, what do you think? Too long? Too short? I never know what would be a decent length...  
_


End file.
